DETROIT PISTONS HEAD COACH STAN VAN GUNDY: (On disappointing third quarter): “We weren’t ready to play in the third quarter. We just weren’t. We’re not mature enough to understand that yet.”
(On Reggie Jackson): “I thought he was actually below average. It was so much like the Brooklyn game, three minutes to go and again, I’m talking to my coaches about ‘I don’t know what he’s got in the tank, should we go back to Brandon (Jennings)’ who was playing real well. And we left him in and he gets an assist to AT (Anthony Tolliver) and made three threes himself.”
(On Stanley Johnson tonight): “I thought he was tremendous. Second start of his career, I thought he played real well. We were even going to him down the stretch there before Reggie (Jackson) hit the threes. We were running plays for him. (He’s) Fearless; getting better all the time; not afraid to make plays. Got it handed to him a little bit on the other end; he was playing hard but (Arron) Afflalo showed him what the NBA’s about. You can be playing hard, but there are some good players in this league. Afflalo had his way with him; that was a good learning experience for him. Stanley didn’t back away from the challenge. I think Stanley is going to be a really good player. He handled huge minutes tonight on the fifth game in seven nights, played 40-plus minutes, and played real well. Nine rebounds, I thought he made some really good passes, just played extremely well.
DETROIT PISTONS GUARD REGGIE JACKSON: (On coming up big in the last two minutes of the game): “I feel like I work extremely hard. I have things instilled in me especially from the past when I was leaving Oklahoma City which was to work like it all depends on you and pray like it all depends on God. I have tremendous faith when I go out there that things are going to go well. I feel like I worked extremely hard in the off season and I work extremely hard every day. I have no choice but to have faith in myself. You don’t win them all and hopefully you don’t lose them all, but you try to do the best you can to be successful in the situations that you’re put in.”
(On the 3-point shot by Anthony Tolliver late in the game): “It was very big. AT [Anthony Toliver] was very confident in his shot and we felt like we had a good chance to run the pick and roll. They definitely put two men on myself and Dre, AT’s man with the roll and AT did a great job of spacing. Of course, Marcus and Stanley had to do a great job of spacing on that play as well so their man can help. So he got an open look and he was ready for it. After I put us in that position after missing those two free throws before, AT definitely gave us a lift by putting us back up one with that big shot.”
DETROIT PISTONS FORWARD ANTHONY TOLLIVER: (On his role on the team, not having many shot attempts): “I’m kind of used to it. Every team has to have guys who go out there and just play hard and do what they can every single night and that’s what I do. I’m not worried about shot attempts and stuff like that. Of course, whenever I get them I’m going to take them and I’d love to take shots and get into a rhythm but I don’t have that luxury a lot of the times. I just have to step up and make shots whenever I get the ball.”
(On Reggie Jackson): “He’s a big time player. He’s not afraid of the moment and big moments down the stretch. Obviously he takes and makes some really big shots for our team. We’ve talked about that quite a few times on how he has to be that guy for us. To put the ball in his hands and make something happen. Whether that be him creating that shot for me or creating that shot for himself. That’s what he has to do especially down the stretch and throughout the game. “
NEW YORK KNICKS HEAD COACH DEREK FISHER: (On tonight and explanations about the first and second half): “No, no explanations really. We didn’t come to play to start, and we put ourselves in a position where we had to have everything go right for us down the stretch on the road and it’s hard to put yourself in that position in this league.”
(On the energy in the second half and if they could have it every night): “For sure, that’s the only way that we can play. That’s the only way we have a chance to win. Just to be willing to sacrifice, to commit everything we have in us every possession and in the second half we did that. Hopefully we can find ways to do that consistently going forward, that’s the only way we’re going to have a chance to win.”
(On what he said at half time to the team): “That’s the problem. Everybody thinks that it’s supposed to come from somebody else other than what’s inside of the guys doing their job. They decide it. It doesn’t matter what I say. As a player, you have to decide that this means as much to you as anything else in life, because this is what you chose to do and they made that decision at half time and they gave themselves a chance to win. Unfortunately we didn’t do that in the first half.”
NEW YORK KNICKS FORWARD KRISTAPS PORZINGIS: (On tonight’s first half vs. Pistons): “There’s no explanation, that’s not us. That first half that we had is not us, obviously, and we have to start the game the way we started the second half and play that way the whole half. Then it won’t cost us as much energy and effort to get back in the game.”
(On halftime adjustments): “I think coach (Derek Fisher) said the right things to us. I’m not going to go into detail, but he said the right things to make us think and get us a little fired up. The team from the second half- we have to play that way the whole game.”